


Return to Magic

by Norman (flxbber)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-09
Updated: 2013-12-09
Packaged: 2018-01-04 04:24:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1076504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flxbber/pseuds/Norman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Upon the departure of two very wise and very talented professors, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is suddenly faced with a strange phenomenon, and the need to replace three professors. Not to mention the danger that is lurking under a certain sink in a particular bathroom. How will these rookie professors keep the fear at bay?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Owls Well that Ends Well

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! Just wanted to tell you guys that one of the original characters I am using is actually an Alternate Universe version of my Lord of the Rings character.
> 
> I don't know if Snape/Original Female Character relationship is actually going to happen, but it's a possibility.
> 
> Also, please ignore the horrible title pun

Gray clouds covered the skies over London, looking a bit foreboding about the storm that had been predicted to arrive later that afternoon. In a small neighborhood near the outskirts of the city, the civilians chose to ignore the warning clouds, and most of the neighborhood was outside going about their own business.

As much as most people would want to ignore this next peculiarity, this was hard to ignore; owls flying in the sky, a bunch at a time. This time of day, it was so rare to even catch a glimpse of wings or hear a soft call in the distance.

One particular resident of the neighborhood watched the owls with interest, pushing the hat she was wearing up a bit for better viewing. She couldn't recall the last time there were so many owls in the sky around this time of year; maybe there were more Hogwarts letters to be delivered? She did recall that one of the children of the neighborhood had turned eleven in June.  
Now that she thought about it, the other teenager down the street had gotten their letter a few summers ago; she must be starting her third year this year.

Just as she had expected, a Great Gray Owl swooped down, dropping a letter on the eleven year old's doorstep, and she couldn't help but smile. What she didn't expect, though, was the feeling of something bouncing off her head. Looking down in confusion, she bent down to pick the object up, almost bemused when she saw the Hogwarts seal. A small owl swooped down, and landed on her shoulder, hooting as if he was expecting something. Slowly opening the letter, she used her free hand to scratch at the owls neck.

The owl was a pretty owl indeed, though very small in size. He was a Northern Saw-Whet Owl, a rarity in England, as they were pretty much only found in America. She decided that she'd best read the letter inside, lest it decide to sing to her upon opening.  
Walking indoors with the owl on her shoulder, she motioned to a small bag of bird seed that had been sitting on her counter since the morning. She had planned to put it in the bird feeder in her small garden, but she felt that this would be a better use. Immediately, the owl hopped off her shoulder, and made tiny leaps until it was close enough to the bag.

Turning her attention away from the owl now, she unfolded the letter carefully, cautious so that she did not rip the parchment that the letter was written on. Quickly scanning the document, and smiling when she recognized the green ink and Professor McGonagall’s signature, she felt nostalgic, and read through the main part of the letter.

She was immediately confused by the contents of the letter, and was almost flabbergasted. The owl, who had just had a small snack of bird seed, peered at her expectantly, as if he knew what was going on.

 

Hogwarts School Of  
Witchcraft And Wizardry  
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Elodine Greenhand,  
We of Hogwarts would be very pleased if you would lend your talents to the tutelage of students in Herbology for the 1992 year. We await your return owl, and remind you that the term starts on 1 September, and that if you choose to take this position, you would need to be at the castle by 20 August, at the latest. We will also need to have your lesson plan with the material that you plan to teach each year.

Yours sincerely,  
 _Minerva McGonagall_  
Deputy Headmistress

Letting the letter drop from her grasp onto the table, she blinked, and inhaled a deep breath. Was this actually reality? They were asking her to teach? Granted, she was top of her class in Herbology, but didn't Professor Sprout teach the class still?

“This is odd, isn’t it,” she muttered to no one in particular, and shuffled off towards her cluttered office, where she kept her stationary; she had to remember to purchase parchment and quills and ink before returning to Hogwarts. A nice trip to Diagon Alley would help remind her of the Wizarding World. A sigh came off her lips as she made a face. She should have been more involved in the wizarding community, yet instead she chose to settle in a quiet muggle suburb.

Searching through piles of papers and quite a lot of old knick knacks, she scrounged around for her wand, which she hadn’t picked up in what felt like years; it was probably only a few months, but she did have to admit that she missed being able to levitate and transfigure things. Maybe living in the muggle world did have its setbacks.

Elodine felt a wave of horror wash over her as she picked up a heavy item that had fallen from its place on the shelf. Her face grew pale as she picked up a very broken looking twig from where the object had been.

 ** _“Bugger,”_** she said, frustration in her voice and mind. Biting her lip, she dropped the twig and the other object and snatched undamaged paper and a pen and left for the kitchen. She would have to find a replacement wand in Diagon Alley, as the halves of her wand had severed.

Pushing the annoyance to the back of her mind, she set the paper on the table, and started to write out a reply to Professor McGonagall, and signed it. Looking back at it, she groaned, as she would definitely have to work on her chicken scratch if she had any hope of using a quill well. There was hope in her mind that the Professor didn’t need the lesson plan to be written up right that second, as she didn’t have the faintest idea.

Folding the letter and placing it in an envelope, she wrote the Professor’s name on it, and beckoned the owl forward, again choosing to scratch at the owl’s tufts of feathers. In response, the owl hooted appreciatively, and held out his leg. Finding only ribbon, she tied the letter to his outstretched leg, and patted his head one last time.

 _ **“Thank you kindly,”**_ she smiled, _**“I no longer have an owl of my own, so this is a huge help,”**_ she finished, sending the owl through the open window and into the sky. Turning around once the owl had disappeared, she walked over to her calendar on her wall next to her fridge, and checked the date. 17th of July; a monday, and of course she had nothing planned, but she decided that she wouldn’t visit Diagon Alley until the 19th, a Wednesday.

Monday and Tuesday came and went quite quickly, and before she knew it, Elodine was standing in front of a brick wall, attempting to remember the precise way to open the way to Diagon Alley. She ended up waiting for others to enter it, as she realized that she would probably need to have a wand to open it.

Immediately setting off towards Ollivander’s, she entered through the door quietly. She couldn’t remember the last time she had stepped foot inside the wand maker’s shop, but expected that it had been a while. The store had not changed in the slightest - which she was happy about; she didn’t much like change.

The process took less than seven minutes, and she was out of the shop, her money pouch slightly lighter. Looking down towards the wand in her hand, she smiled. It was an interesting looking wand. The wood was from an Acacia tree, Mr. Ollivander had said, and it contained a Phoenix feather. Nearly walking into a pair of younger wizards, she put the wand in her robes, and paid more attention to what was in front of her.

_**“Miss Greenhand? What are you doing here?”** _

Elodine recognized the voice from somewhere, but it was difficult for her to place. When she turned around, there was honest surprise on her face to see her neighbor, Hermione Granger. Moments later, she spotted her mother and father, and gave them both a wave and a small smile.

 _ **“I’m just browsing, have to get parchment and quills, and find some literature,”** _ she replied, walking towards Hermione. **_“It’s great to see you.”_**

**_“Why didn’t you tell me you were a witch?”_ **

Elodine wanted to burst out laughing, but she thought Hermione might find offense in that. Instead, she chose to inform her why she could not divulge the information about the Wizarding World.

 ** _“I saw a letter arrive on your doorstep a few summers ago, but I couldn’t be sure. I couldn’t just expose the Wizarding World to you, now could I.”_ ** The dark haired boy that had been standing next to Hermione smiled slightly when he had been spotted. Turning towards him, Hermione had just realized that she hadn’t introduced her friends, Ron, and Harry.

 _ **“Miss Greenhand, this is Ron Weasley, and this is Harry Potter,”**_ Hermione said, gesturing to both of the boys next to her in turn. Shaking both of their hands, she furrowed her brow as Harry looked rather humiliated. They had just walked out of Flourish and Blotts, what had happened in there? Spotting the sign just outside the door, an involuntary groan came out of her mouth. Lockhart - he was quite the insufferable man, and had an ego that made a Whomping Willow look small.

Not mentioning the observation, she bid them all farewell, and set off inside Flourish and Blotts herself, as she needed some good material to make the year’s plans. It was hard for her even to move with the blasted signing, and she grew agitated when she caught the man’s voice as he spoke loudly.

Getting her books and paying for them at the front, she left the store and headed to Madame Malkin’s, ready to buy some new robes; the robes she had were from at least a decade before, and half of them didn’t fit. She simply bought new robes, and sold the ones she had brought. After she felt good about her purchases, she left the Alley, to return to her home, and begin her planning and packing.


	2. Entrance into The Great Hall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just the bells and whistles, mostly about how she travels and how she dislikes some wizard transportation.

Anxiety came swiftly in the coming days and weeks, as doubts and fears plagued her mind. She did write up a pretty decent lesson plan for the year, though. She wanted to teach the first through third years about Mandrakes; well, it was recommended that she teach them about the Mandrakes. Personally, she had always hated Mandrakes with a passion, they sort of freaked her out.

Among the anxiety, were feelings of nostalgia and happiness, as she hadn’t been to Hogwarts in over a decade. She remembered things that she hadn’t thought of since she had left Hogwarts all those years ago. Memories of getting her Hogwarts letter on that fateful day in mid 1974, and how stressful it felt to be sorted in front of hundreds of future students. Quidditch practices, potions exams, charms classes; she missed them all, and wondered why she would give them up for a lonely life in the muggle world. There was happiness that she could enter the world again, start over, so to speak.

The day she needed to leave, or told herself that she needed to be at Hogwarts already, she brought everything she’d be needing into her sitting room. Fitting all of her belongings with two charms, a simple shrinking charm and a feather charm, she felt that she was set to go. She had her newly purchased robes on, a muddy brown in color - it would be the perfect thing to wear during Herbology lessons. She did want to get a nice set of pretty lavender robes she had seen in Madame Malkins, but the design and the brilliant stitching meant that the robes were way over her budget.

Pushing the thought of clothing from her mind, she gripped her Acacia wand tightly, trying to focus completely on the task at hand; one wrong move or thought, and she would end up splinched or something. Elodine had never been a fan of apparition, as she had the unlucky tendency to vomit any time she ended up doing it. She had wished the reaction would diminish as she did it more often, yet that was not the case. Quick as she could, she placed each shrunken suitcase in her robe pockets.

Thinking clearly, she imagined the nice countryside, rolling hills and that silly sign that warned muggles away from the Hogwarts grounds. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to apparate onto the grounds, as there was a handy Anti-Apparition protection; she would be able to do it just outside the grounds, though. And that’s where she found herself moments later, on her knees in the mud of the countryside, retching up the contents of her lunch. She swore never to do that again, and coughed up the last of her food.

_Next time, I’ll go by bloody train._

Standing herself up, she checked the damage of her cloak, hoping that none of her stomach’s contents had ended up there. Seeing nothing of note, she turned to the mud, and waved her wand, softly speaking the incantation “Evanesco,” so that the vomit had disappeared completely. Brushing herself off, she cleaned the mud off her robes and walked towards the distance.

About fifteen minutes later, she started seeing the outline of a castle, and soon found her way to the path that lead to the front Entrance. She didn’t mind that there were no carriages to take her up to the castle, as this gave her ample time to admire the grounds; she wished she had been able to do just that during her time at Hogwarts.

Finally at the huge doors to the Entrance Hall, Elodine stopped a moment, needing to catch her breath and plan what she would say; it wouldn’t do for her to get stammer-y on her new colleagues. Gathering what courage she had, she carefully opened one of the doors, and slipped inside.

Her face immediately lit up as soon as she looked up from closing the rather heavy front door. Everything was exactly as she had remembered it. The spiral staircase leading up to the other floors, the paintings on the walls, the warm light coming from the Great Hall; not to mention the smell, dear Merlin, did that smell nice. Her hunger must have come about from her earlier illness, she deduced, and cautiously walked into the Great Hall, almost instinctively going to sit at the Hufflepuff table.

_Oh wait, I’m a teacher now - must resist the urge, I guess._

Her smile was replaced by a slight grimace when her eyes fell on the Teacher’s table. It seemed most of them were enjoying lunch - oh, it was only ten minutes past noon. Walking slowly towards the table, her fears were fully realized. Two people sat at the table that she would have loved to have nothing to do with. One of them, of course it just had to be him, didn’t it, was Gilderoy Lockhart, the smiling git. The next one brought back some memories that she would have liked to keep from remembering.

_Severus Snape._

One memory in particular came to the forefront of her brain, and plagued her with harsh laughter; laughter that she hadn’t heard for at least twenty years. It was during her Third Year at Hogwarts, and she had a rather nasty prank pulled on her by a 6th year Slytherin, a student by the name of Mulciber. The student had attempted to use human Transfiguration on one of the Hufflepuff students, and chose one of Hufflepuff’s chasers; her.

What made this prank stick in her memory for so long, was the fact that Mulciber messed up the spell, and she ended up spending two weeks in the Hospital Wing, as the spell had turned most of her face and neck into that of a dog - it took even longer for her hair to return to normal, and she spent another month with furry hair.

Approaching the spot where Dumbledore was seated, she ignored Snape; it wasn’t as if he was actually looking at her - she was being very quiet in her trip up to the table. A small smile came to her face as she saw that Dumbledore hadn’t changed much at all.

 _ **“Good afternoon, Headmaster,”**_ she spoke, holding out her right hand, her smile getting slightly wider as he grasped her hand, _**“It’s lovely to see you again.”**_

 ** _“Lovely to see you again as well,”_** he spoke, his eyes twinkling slightly behind half moon glasses, **_“you know Professor Snape, am I correct? I think I remember both of you in school around the same time.”_**

Well, he had been quick to bring up the awkward topic of Snape, and her smile faltered for a moment.

 _ **“Yes, I do, but I was three years younger, and our Houses didn’t interact much at all,”** _ her answer was short, and that was all she said on the subject. **_“Might I sit down? I didn’t eat anything before I came here, and I do admit to being quite famished.”_**

_**“Of course, feel free to sit, and enjoy your meal. Professor McGonagall will show you to your rooms near the Hufflepuff Common Rooms after you are finished your meal.”** _

**_“Thank you,”_** she replied, and chose the seat next to Lockhart, as that was the only other seat besides one next to Severus.  
Giving a polite nod to Lockhart, she hoped that he wouldn’t feel the need to talk at all; she suddenly found herself more hungry than she thought physically possible. As soon as the food had appeared on her plate, she had started to dig in, eating as politely as she could in the situation. She would have liked to have acted more lady-like, but at this point, all she cared about was the food she was currently shoveling into her mouth. Only Gilderoy found the need to point out that she was eating quite fast.

 ** _“You’re eating quite fast, Elodine, you should slow down, lest you eat too much,”_** he told her, his voice grating in her ear. She didn’t like that he used her name so casually, as they hadn’t been formally introduced. Plus, the fact that he was commenting on her eating made her feel a bit defensive.

 ** _“I’ll be all right,”_** she said, in between mouthfuls. She didn’t have time to say more, as Minerva had already finished her meal, and was waiting for her to finish. **_“Nice to meet you,”_ ** she said out of instinct as she stood up gathering the crumbs that had fallen off her plate and putting them on the plate so that it would be easier to clean.

Walking over towards Minerva, she had a warm smile on her face. **_“It’s lovely to see you again, Professor,”_** she spoke, genuinely happy to see her former Transfiguration Professor.

 ** _“It’s lovely to see you again too, Elodine. Your rooms are this way,”_** she said, beckoning her to follow as she walked towards a door at the side of the Great Hall. She remembered this as the way to the Hufflepuff dormitories. Walking alongside Professor McGonagall, she decided to speak up.

 ** _“Not much has changed,”_** she said, her voice sounding happy.

 ** _“You’re right, much has stayed the same,”_** Minerva agreed, and decided to change the subject. **_“I always wondered, why did you not get a job with the Ministry or any other wizarding jobs? I remember you taking a year off to travel, and as soon as you returned, you fell off the radar. Did you find a muggle job that you prefered?”_**

_**“No, honestly I really loved the wizarding world, but it was getting quite scary. I think the peak of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named power was too much for me, I needed to have a simpler and safer life. I didn’t want to be scared to open my door, lest a Death Eater jinx me soon as I opened it.”** _

**_“That is a very good reason to drop off any radar,”_** the professor mused, and patted Elodine’s shoulder. It seemed that the timing was perfect, as the conversation had felt strained as soon as she had mentioned the Dark Lord. _**“These are your rooms. A sitting area and a regular sleeping area. If you need anything or if you are having trouble with any students, talk to me or any of the other Heads of Houses.”**_

_**“Thank you, Professor. I hope you have a good night.”** _

_**“You as well, Elodine.”** _


End file.
